Need Restrictions on Corporates Owning Media, says TRAI

New Delhi: The government must look at "ownership restrictions on corporate entering the media"  warned the telecom regulator TRAI today, as it shared its recommendations on media ownership.

Warning against "an inherent conflict of interest" that is ignited when corporates own media, TRAI (the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) said that the government should consider "restricting the amount of equity holding/loans by a corporate in a media company."

TRAI also stressed that editorial independence must be safeguarded through a regulatory framework.

In the recommendations it disclosed today, TRAI also complained that six years ago, it asked that political and religious bodies must be included in a pool of those to be "barred from entry into broadcasting and TV channel distribution."  The regulator said  six years have passed since it made that call "without any concrete action being taken by the government."